NASHIK ROAD: The Dharmasabha (seers’ meeting) convened by Mahant Govindanand Swami of Kishkindha Peeth, at Mahant Aniket Shastri Deshpande’s Ashram at Nashik Road yesterday to discuss whether Lord Hanuman’s birthplace is Anjaneri near Trimbakeshwar, or Kishkindha in Karnataka, remained inconclusive after ended in chaos.
The meet, which had attracted the attention of all the religious sects and organisations, has resulted into escalating the controversy further. The police had to intervene as the meet witnessed verbal clashes over the row.
Govindanand Swami is on a tour of Nashik. “Anjaneri is not the birthplace of Hanuman. It is Kishkindha,” he claimed based on religious texts. Mahant Govindananda, citing the Valmiki Ramayana, claims that Kishkindha is the original birthplace of Lord Hanuman. For four days, he interacted with Pandits and mahants at Trimbakeshwar. However, there was no consensus over the row.
He had called a Dharmasabha at Nashik Road yesterday to discuss this issue. When the morning meeting started, Mahant Govindanand was sitting on the sofa. On the occasion he was strongly objected by the mahants of Nashik. They boycotted the Dharmasabha in protest Finally, after an hour and a half, when Mahant Govindanand agreed to sit like other seers in front, the Dharmasabha started.
Both sides began to provide documentary evidences. Three hours passed in this argument. Nothing was coming of it. The controversy escalated further and the meet ended after verbal clashes.
The mahants of Nashik asked Govindanand to introduce his Guru tradition. While Govindanand was mentioning that Jagadguru Shankaracharya was his guru, Mahant Sudhirdas Pujari of Nashik said that Congress leaders also come to visit Shankaracharya.
However, Govidanand misunderstood the statement assuming that Jagatguru Shankaracharya was called a Congressman. He took strong objection to it and demanded apology from Sudhirdas Pujari. He also threatened not to leave Nashik until Pujari apologize. The police intervened and took Govindanand to the inner room. As the controversy escalated, the organisers had to adjourned the meet.
